[2] His youngest son, Andrew Reese, was an architect; he was killed in action in 1917.
He built Trinity Congregational Church (ca 1870),[4] the Canterbury Club (1873),[5] Cranmer Court (1873–1875),[6] St Paul's Church (1877), parts of Lincoln College, the Chief Post Office (1877–1878), the United Service Hotel in Cathedral Square (1884–1885), parts of Sunnyside Hospital, the first Christchurch Girls' High School (now part of the Arts Centre), and the second Girls' High School (1881).
[7] Reese was elected onto Christchurch City Council for the South-west ward in 1882 and served until 1885.
[8][9] Reese had Bright's disease and was ill for four months before he died at his home in Sumner on 4 October 1891.
He had moved to Sumner while he was ill as he sought improvement from breathing sea air.